diff --git a/src/main/managed-server/host-state/orcad-state-snapshot-shell.test.ts b/src/main/managed-server/host-state/orcad-state-snapshot-shell.test.ts
index 565804db789..29ba3c9d81d 100644
--- a/src/main/managed-server/host-state/orcad-state-snapshot-shell.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/managed-server/host-state/orcad-state-snapshot-shell.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import {
+  chmodSync,
   existsSync,
   mkdirSync,
   mkdtempSync,
@@ -115,6 +116,25 @@ describe.skipIf(process.platform === 'win32')('snapshot commands on a real shell
     expect(existsSync(join(root, '.orcad-state-restore-stage'))).toBe(false)
   })
 
+  it('captures on a BusyBox before 1.30, whose timeout only takes `-t SECS`', async () => {
+    const bin = join(base, 'bin')
+    mkdirSync(bin)
+    // Old BusyBox reads a bare `900` as the program to run.
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(bin, 'timeout'),
+      '#!/bin/sh\n[ "$1" = "-t" ] || exit 127\nshift 2\n[ "$1" = "-s" ] && shift 2\nexec "$@"\n'
+    )
+    chmodSync(join(bin, 'timeout'), 0o755)
+
+    expect(
+      parseOrcadSnapshotCapture(
+        await sh(captureOrcadStateSnapshotCommand(posix, root, snapshot, remoteBase), {
+          PATH: `${bin}:${process.env.PATH ?? ''}`
+        })
+      )
+    ).toBe('captured')
+  })
+
   it('keeps live state when the archive cannot be extracted', async () => {
     await sh(captureOrcadStateSnapshotCommand(posix, root, snapshot, remoteBase))
     writeFileSync(join(snapshot, 'state.tar'), 'not a tar archive')
diff --git a/src/main/managed-server/host-state/orcad-state-snapshot.ts b/src/main/managed-server/host-state/orcad-state-snapshot.ts
index f7ec816e289..fbcee78aab6 100644
--- a/src/main/managed-server/host-state/orcad-state-snapshot.ts
+++ b/src/main/managed-server/host-state/orcad-state-snapshot.ts
@@ -135,7 +135,9 @@ export function serializedStateMutationCommand(
     'else "$@"; fi; };',
     // Why timeout inside the group: KILL then reaches tar and rm, not only the shell.
     // The deadline is a word list, so the script is sent once, not once per branch.
-    `orca_deadline=; command -v timeout >/dev/null 2>&1 && orca_deadline="timeout -s KILL ${ORCAD_STATE_MUTATION_DEADLINE_SECONDS}";`,
+    // BusyBox before 1.30 spells it `timeout -t SECS`, as the room probe found.
+    `orca_deadline=; if timeout 1 true 2>/dev/null; then orca_deadline="timeout -s KILL ${ORCAD_STATE_MUTATION_DEADLINE_SECONDS}";`,
+    `elif timeout -t 1 true 2>/dev/null; then orca_deadline="timeout -t ${ORCAD_STATE_MUTATION_DEADLINE_SECONDS} -s KILL"; fi;`,
     `orca_state_group $orca_deadline ${run};`,
     `status=$?; ${owned ? `[ "$status" -eq ${ORCAD_FENCE_LOST_EXIT} ] && exit ${ORCAD_FENCE_LOST_EXIT}; ` : ''}if [ "$status" -eq 124 ] || [ "$status" -eq 137 ]; then echo ${ORCAD_STATE_MUTATION_DEADLINE}; fi`
   ].join(' ')